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FTSE 100 movers: Tobacco stocks surge on FDA news; SSE slides

London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.5% to 7,305.99 in afternoon trade on Wednesday as tobacco shares rallied.

British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands were both sharply higher on news that the US Food and Drug Administration is considering banning all flavoured e-cigarettes.

"The disturbing and accelerating trajectory of use we're seeing in youth, and the resulting path to addiction, must end,” FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a statement. “The FDA cannot tolerate a whole generation of young people becoming addicted to nicotine as a trade-off for enabling adults to access these products."

Glencore gained following news that Australia’s Wiggins Island Coal Export Terminal obtained court approval on Tuesday for a $3.2bn debt refinancing plan, giving some respite to its owners who would have had to start repayments this month.

The Queensland-based terminal, known as WICET, is 40% owned by Glencore and was built to service a consortium of eight coal companies during a period of high commodity prices.

According to Reuters, it will now have the maturity of $2.6bn in senior debt extended from this month until September 2026.

Luxury fashion brand Burberry was boosted by a report that a private equity firm had contacted Ferragamo about an offer, but this was later denied by the Italian company.

London Stock Exchange was given a leg-up by an upgrade to ‘buy’ at Alphavalue.

On the downside, SSE tumbled after a profit warning, dragging peers Centrica, National Grid, Severn Trent and United Utilities down with it.

The company said it first-half profits are likely to have halved compared to last year due to higher costs and lower volumes of energy being consumed. After five months of its financial year, the group said full-year adjusted operating profit at its Energy Services arm was likely to be significantly lower than predicted at the start of the year ahead of its spin-off and merger with Npower.